"Copyright Flag" Tab

I know this has been discussed before, but having a "Copyright Flag" option would be great so users could identify anything with questionable copyright issues and flag them. I think this would help reduce remarks on the subject.

Additionally, I think the flag should be anonymous. If something gets flagged I'm assuming it should be visible to the community just as a precaution so they don't go and use it as a resource until the issue has been officially cleared.

I'm not sure how that process would work and how people would know the issue has been resolved if it's been raised.

Perhaps when a RECord has been flagged, it automatically gets temporarily re-assigned as a reference RECord so that a user can no longer download the RECord.

The status of this RECord cannot be changed back by the user who posted the questionable material, but they can make a case for why they think it's acceptable to the community (perhaps a new section or just in remarks...?) We could then have a user-led system where the RECord is automatically turned back to a regular downloadable RECord if a certain number of people then flag it as okay.

Although this system isn't infallible (users could create multiple new user accounts to OK their own RECords back) but it would mean that it's a more fluid system for RECords containing copyrighted material to be kept visible, but to not become part of other people's remixes.

The further issue would be for remixes which were made before the original RECord was flagged, but perhaps there could be an automated system to put a warning bar at the top of any results of a flagged RECord.

About the temporarily reassigned reference RECord thing. Maybe I'm just paranoid but I somehow imagine it being abused by certain people that dislike a users work. You did however talk about a user-led system and I like that.

I'm just worried that in some cases it might take a while for people to notice that something's being wrongly flagged, especially with newer users that don't have a lot of friends or traffic, viewing their work.

I would suggest that their be some higher authority on the matter, a member of staff perhaps, but that's not really practical. It may prove to be quite a job to go around and judge flagged records everyday and would probably eat up a load of someone's time.

Matt's point of a precaution is what I thought as well when I first read this. I think a gentle reminder is a good idea. A little message that says, "This record has been flagged, it MAY contain copyrighted materials, be cautious."

Perhaps if someone is going to flag something anonymously they have to provide evidence, a link or something. So that users that are going to remix something can look at the evidence, perhaps research themselves, and come to their own conclusions.

It would be good to maybe introduce Tori's idea around here, so that users can then group together to vote against the flagging, if need be.

This system would stop wrongly accused records from being unable to download, allowing a potential artists in the zone of inspiration to act fast without a download restriction. It would not work in a ultimate thought process and would encourage free thinking by pointing out that it "MAY be copyrighted material" rather than "IS copyrighted material".

An "evidence" tab for supplying a link and a note is a great idea, sherbethead. If someone's going to take the time to flag something then it seems only natural to have them support the claim with a link and a note (if necessary.) But a link is the key. It reduces abuse of a user-led feature like this.

However, I'm not sure how effective a disclaimer might be. I have a RECord up on the current site which is a REmix of someone else's RECord from V3 that didn't migrate over. I added a disclaimer to it just explaining that it may not be appropriate to use in remixes as I wasn't the original owner, trying to dissuade people from using it, but it still gets remixed frequently as people see other remixes and quickly download mine to use without reading the description. If there was going to be a disclaimer, it would have to be a huge extra bold banner at the top of the page which people just couldn't miss.

Oooh... Perhaps it could be a dialogue box that pops up when they click "download". Users would have to read & check a box to confirm that they understand it may contain copyrighted material before the download will start.

Thanks for bringing up the topic of copyright flags, Matt. I think this is a really important issue to address. For the most part, people post copyrighted work when they first join, without really understanding how things work on hitRECord. I have, on occasion, left notes for these users directing them to the "hitRECord accord" and briefly explaining why these records are not acceptable. People generally respond positively to the comment and don't post such records in the future but, as we all know, there have been users who post other people's work with the intention of passing it off as their own.

I do like the idea of an anonymous flagging system. I think this would encourage more people to report copyright infractions but I agree with sherbethead that this could lead to abuses. Providing evidence of the source of a record would help a great deal. I usually write, "I found this (image-poem-song-etc.) here:" and provide a link.

Here are some ways to find out if someone has posted a RECord that does not belong to them:

Is it consistent with the quality and style of their other RECords?

This is just a starting point but if a RECord seems familiar to me in some way this is the first thing I will examine. Often times people posting RECords that they are trying to pass off as their own pull from a variety of sources and there is a vast difference in style from one piece to the next, so I will go through all their RECords to see if it seems feasible that one person was the sole author.

Do a word search using the title or words in the RECord.

If it is a text RECord you will often come across the source fairly quickly. For image RECords this often works as well.

Also, for image RECords, since people do tend to re-title RECords when they post them, one can download the image then do a search using the title of the file. Often times people do not change the name of the original file and it can be located with a word search.

Do a "reverse image" search.

I found a website called "TinEye" where you can upload an image and find duplicate images on the web. It is possible that you will come across a person's original work posted elsewhere on the web but when you come across twenty matches... or hundreds of matches... it is less likely that the work is original to the user. This site provides links to where the image is located and you can research the source.

As I said, i will usually say, "I found this here" and try to be as polite as possible to the user, giving them an opportunity to defend themselves, so to speak. More often than not, people just don't understand that they can't, for example, post an image of The Terminator as their profile pic as you can on Twitter or Facebook, so I think it's always important to give that person the benefit of the doubt.

I have a file on my computer where i have been keeping links to any RECords I have come across that may be (or are clear) copyright violations. I have about 250 RECords listed. Apart from the occasional instances when I have left notes to users, the majority of these infractions have not been brought to the users attention. It is not really a "fun" thing to do and I don't really want to spend all my time doing this... or get a reputation, like I'm the hitRECord police or something! ;c/... though I don’t mind the title “hitRECdetective”! :cD

I have considered putting them all into an album but it would be really nice to be able to simply flag them anonymously... which is what i guess i've been waiting for.

I think a copyright flag is such a great idea.... and I really like the idea of having to show evidence if it's not clear (some RECords will flat out say something like "here's my cover of Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" or "here's a video I made... I obviously don't own the music by Coldplay" so evidence wouldn't always be needed but in cases where it's like something you saw on Tumblr it could be helpful)

And I also agree that 95% of the time copyrighted material is posted it's because someone didn't get it and thought hitRECord was just like tumblr or you tube where "your own work" is really loosely defined. If i see it, I often will just leave a REmark politely saying "This is great, and perhaps you should add it to you tube or something, but since we're a for-profit production company, it can't be used here"

Camryn Alexandra, Camryn Alicia, Camryn Apolla, who do I think I am? You can be a copyright violation without realizing it when your parents give you up and go to the next kid in line. I think they know they are violating copyright legislation. They are continuities, too, you know.

There is always a need for something like this in this type of community. I can see the issue with implementing all of this is that the site is going to have to hire admins to keep and maintain with it. There's going to need a back end system that will allow the admins to look over the questionable material and then have to decide if it needs to be deleted. You could perhaps make it user based (once a item has been flagged 5 (random #) times then its automatically deleted) but then you run into issues when people are abusing the system.

this idea was posted almost a year ago. though we don't have a copyright flag, we now have a copyright flag collab. you can create an album of suspected copyright violations and contribute the album to this collab. they are reviewed and deleted at the discretion of hR staff.

Oh okay. Pretty new around here but just wanted to contribute to what it would take to implement something this large. I've worked on a lot of large community websites and its a pain to keep up with something like this. I'm glad you guys have a solution for now :)